1. Field of the Invention
The field of art to which this invention pertains may be generally located in the class of devices relating to valves. Class 137, Fluid Handling, United States Patent Office Classification, appears to be the applicable general area of art to which the subject matter similar to this invention has been classified in the past.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This invention relates to a flow control ball valve with an integrated removable venturi, a flow balancing means, and a pipe union means for use in a heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. The integrated structure of the present invention combines the most sought after components used in piping fan coils and air handling units into a single compact, easy to install product. Heating and cooling systems have widely varying flow rates requiring different sized venturis to properly measure the flow through the systems. Whenever a heating, ventilating and air conditioning chilled water or hot water system is installed in a facility, it employs terminal units such as fan coils, heat pumps, air handlers or ventilating air coils to heat or cool the individual spaces within the facility. To allow each coil to be insulated, serviced, checked and balanced, a number of components are used. These components include isolation valves, balance valves, unions and pressure/temperature readout ports. Components can, and are, used in virtually any combination. A typical job will use a number of each of these components around every coil to satisfy the requirements as stated on the plans for a system. Unfortunately, these component combinations can become very complex. A typical two-way coil piping schematic for a large facility, for example, can contain over eight components and fifteen pipe fittings which require over 26 piping connections to complete. At ten minutes per piping connection, this works out to over four hours to pipe up one coil. Multiply this by the fifty or so coils on a normal job, and a labor requirement quickly runs up into the hundreds of hours, and thousands of dollars of labor costs.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a ball valve which has integrated therewith a removable flow venturi, a flow balancing means, a pipe union means, and an air vent tapping plug, whereby the air collected in the body cavity of the valve can be removed easily if the valve is employed in a fluid stream such as a water stream.
It is another object of the present invention, to provide a ball valve provided with a valve position indicator plate and an adjustable memory position indicator stop member, and with an integrated removable flow venturi and two associated pressure temperature readout ports, whereby it is possible to satisfy the requirements of a heating, ventilating and air conditioning system with a minimum of valve bodies, at reduced installation labor costs and provide a capability to customize each system by using various combinations of venturis to effect a prebalancing of such a system.
The flow venturi allows flow measurements to be taken through the two pressure/temperature readout ports as fluid travels through the valve, with the ball valve in an open position. Once the flow measurement through the venturi is determined the ball valve can be throttled, that is partially closed. Successive pressure/temperature readings are then taken and the ball valve is further throttled until the desired flow through the ball valve is obtained. At that point the adjustable memory position indicator stop member is set permit the ball valve to be closed and then be reopened to the position of desired flow. The adjusted position of the memory position indicator stop member relative to the valve position the memory stop indicator plate is recorded for record purposes.
Each one of the functions described hereinabove is typically performed by a separate device in heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. Each one of the functions requires at least two piping connections, and every heat transfer coil installed to heat and cool a given space within a building requires all these devices to perform its function correctly. By combining all of these separate devices into a single valve, considerable time is saved in the installation of a heat transfer coil. In addition, approximately ten piping connections are eliminated, thus removing ten potential leak points. Also, the integrated ball valve of the present invention is one fifth the installed length of the components it replaces, making the installation of a heat transfer coil much easier in what is typically a very cramped installation space.